Not the opening day result we were looking for as we fall 8-3 to D1 promo-tees Atletico Buford SC on opening day away at George Pierce Park in Swanee, Georgia. A positively rotten result with many front line stars and coaching not available, leaving a traveling squad of 11 players and no substitutes to open the season.
No Toni Tiente, Karim Tmimi, Kalan Kalonji, Grant Carr or Lionel Sakoue in goal (among others) and even head coach Bruno Kalonji was away on assignment. Such as it is in lower league soccer with so many responsibilities to build player development at this level. It was always going to be a new look for Pro-Profile on opening day.
Even many of the Pro-Profile young stars from last season were unavailable which left a team of 11 with no substitutes or front line coaching to face the promoted Atletico Buford. Atletico, who themselves were up for the challenge in their first ever Premier Division match brought a full squad of players, coaching staff and plenty of substitutes in their exciting first taste of Premier Division football. Along with the 12th man in the stands of the Atletico supporters in good number.
Despite the missing front line stars for Profile, we still had prolific scorer Zain Hylton, who scored a brace and was joined by Lcuciano Rundles with a single goal to round out our scoring on the day. We also had last season’s captain, Kymani Irving as a leader on the pitch but it proved insufficient on the day.
Atletico Buford, in stark contrast, looked like premier players from the pre-game warm up right on through to the final whistle. Atletico are in Premier as a result of re-alignment of the division from last season that saw the division divided into 2 zones and the addition of new teams to fill the void left by UMA FC and Atlanta Fire United FC who both opted out of the Fall season this round.
The star for Atletico was Alessandro Castro with the Honduran scoring a crucial equalizer in the first half that started a turnaround in the match from which Atletico never looked back. Additional goals from Jonathan Gutierrez, Johny Rapalo, Gerrardo Carlos and braces each from Carlos Chavarria and Cristian Suazo closed out a thoroughly dominate performance from Atletico. This culminates in a valuable 3 points in Atletico’s quest to secure their place in the Premier Division this fall.
With a negative, historic defeat like this for Pro-Profile, the attention will now turn to bouncing back, with all the front line players and coaching returning for the visit of Georgia Athletic SC. Georgia Athletic have themselves started things off with a bang, defeating FC Columbus Elite by the score of 5-0 on their opening day. The match week 2 game will be at Shiloh Stadium, in Snellville GA at 7:30PM. We’re expecting a very different performance from the boys in the upcoming match in the home opener so stay tuned with our media partner the Atlantic Soccer Media Group (ASMG) who will bring you all the action live on YouTube.
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Referee: Daniel Emeri
Asst. Referee: Douglas Bonilla
Asst. Referee: Davis Reaves
Fourth Official: Asher Morris
